Railway-station indicator.



No. 826,264. PATENTED JULY 17, 1906. I

1 'J. D. MQEAGHERN.

RAILWAY STATION INDICATOR. AAAAAAA TI'ON FILED JULY 17. 1905.

PATENTED JULY 17, 1906.

J. D. MOEAGHERN. RAILWAY STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 17.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHBBT 2,

nu: NORRIS PETERS C0,, wAsumcmN, n. c.

the carrier are brought into exact position at JOHN D. McEAOHER-N, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

RAILWAY-STATION INDICATOR.

Specification'of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1906.

Application filed July 17, 1905. Serial No. 270,009.

To all w/wm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN D. MoEAoHnRN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Memphis, county of Shelby, and State of Tennessee, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway-Station Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to station-indicators for railway-cars, and it. is adapted for use upon cars operating separately or upon trains of several cars, each indicator being susceptible of independent operation or of connection with several other indicators for simultaneous operation from one point.

The principal object of the invention is to provide ,an indicator of the character mentioned which is characterized by great simplicity of construction and certainty in operation, as well as durability in service and compactness of design.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a station-indicator in which the legendcarrier may be readily removed from the easing and replaced and the legends on the carrier interchanged when desired.

Other objects of minor importance will appear as the invention is more fully disclosed in the following specification, in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which corresponding parts are designated by similar characters of reference throughout the several views.

In the specification and drawings I have disclosed only one typical form of the invention, and the scope of the invention is defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of an indicator embodying the invention, portions of the casing being broken away to show the interior construction. Fig. 2 is a vertical-sectional view on a plane perpendicular to the aXis of the carrier and lookin toward the right end of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fietail view showing the arrangement of the mechanism for imparting step-by-step rotary movement to the carrier. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the devices by which the legends on the view-apertures and by which backward rotation of the carrier is prevented. Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the arrangement of parts for the turning of the legend-carrier without the use of the ratchet mechanism ordinarily employed.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, 0 designates the casing of the indicator, which 1 may be of any suitable design, that illustrated being of the simplest character. This casing is designed for attachment to any suitable portion of a railway-car, as to the wall at one end of the car. The casing is preferably provided at the front with a hinged door D, which swings horizontally, and in the construction illustrated is hinged at the left end and is provided at the right with a latch L of any suitable character.

In the interior of the casing O is mounted a legend -carrier 1, which is preferably cylindrical in form and is provided with any desired number of legend-carrying strips ex tending longitudinally of the carrier and adjustably connected therewith to permit-the interchange of legends upon the carrier without difiiculty. In the form of carrier illustrated the legend-bearing strips are held rigidly upon the surface and are provided with dovetailed ribs 3, engaging correspondinglyformed grooves provided in the end members of the carrier. The dimensions of the carrier are such that its front surface lies ad jacent to one or more view-apertures 4, formed in the door'D of the casing and exposing the legend upon the portion of the surface of the legend-carrier immediately behind the view-apertures. The legend-carrier is supported upon a longitudinally-disposed shaft 5, which projects a short distance beyond the carrier at either end and has bearings in the downwardly-turned inner ends 6 of grooves 7, formed in the inner faces of the end walls of the casing O. The weight of the carrier keeps the shaft secure in the bearings, and the form of the grooves permits easy introduction and removal of the carrier from the casing.

The mechanism by which the carrier is revolved to bring the various legends successively to view consists of an annular rack 8, secured upon one end of the carrier and provided with teeth 9 of dovetailed form, a pawl 10, adapted for engagement with the teeth 9, and a lever 11 for actuating the pawl. The lever 11 is preferably fulcrumed upon a pivot 12 just above the end of the-shaft 5 and is normally held in vertical position by means of a pair of springs 13 of approximate U shape, which are secured upon opposite sides of the lever 1 1 and have their ends in contact with the suitably-disposed sides of a recess 14 and formed in the inner face of the. adjacent end wall of the casing 0.

As will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 3,

the pawl 10, which is pivotally mounted on the lever 11, may be swung out of the position shown in solid lines to that shown in dotted lines, and by changing the position of the pawl in this way the direction of rotation ofthe carrier may be reversed. The importance of providing for such reversal in the direction of rotation of the carrier will be obvious, as the order of the stations upon a railway-line when going in one direction over the line is exactly the reverse of the order in which the stations are reached when traveling in the opposite direction.

The devices by which the-legend-carrier is brought into exact position relative to the view-apertures at each advance of the carrier are adapted for operation when the carrier is being rotated in either direction, and these devices are preferably of. the construction which is best shown in Fig. 4. A rack 15 with rounded teeth or bosses 16 and sub stantially V-shaped intermediate notches 17 is secured upon the end of the carrier opposite the rack 8, and spring-pressed fingers 18 are provided for engagement with this rack. These fingers 18 are pivotally mounted in a bracket 19, mounted on the back of the door D, and are actuated by a single spring 20, which has its ends in engagement with the two fingers, both of which are bent to present substantially V-shaped portions 21 for engagement with the notches 17 between the rounded teeth 16 of the rack. The spring holds both of the fingers normally in engagement with the rack; but either of the fingers can be secured in inoperative position, thus increasing the pressure upon the rack exerted by the other.

The operation of the spring-fingers 18 upon the rack 15 will be easily understood. When the carrier is being rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4, the lower finger 18 is allowed to engage therewith, and the upper finger is secured in inoperative position by means of a hook 22, carried by the bracket 19 and adapted for engagement with a pin or lug projecting laterally from the finger. Rotary movement of the carrier in the direction indicated by the arrow can be brought about without difficulty when the fingers 18 are in the position shown in Fig. 4, the operative finger 18 sliding easily over the tooth or boss just above it as the carrier is moved by means of the pawl 10. After the carrier has been moved sufficiently to bring the outermost point on the tooth or boss past the engaging portion of the spring-pressed finger the pressure exerted by the finger against the curved surface of the tooth or boss will tend to force the carrier forward and allow the engaging portion of the finger to seat itself in the next notch of the rack, thus insuring the exact positioning of the carrier after each movement.

Besides the action of the spring-fingers 18 in effecting the positioning of the carrier after each movement, they serve to prevent backward movement of the carrier as the operating-lever and its pawl are brought back into normal position by the action of either of the springs 13, the pressure of the operative spring-pressed finger against the rack being such as to prevent any backward movement of the carrier except when a considerable amount of force is exerted thereon.

To reverse the direction of movement of the carrier, the pawl 10 should be shifted and the hook 22 should be moved out of engagement with one of the spring-pressed fin ers 18 and brought into engagement with ot er. These parts having been shifted, the carrier can be rotated in the direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, as will be obvious. The movement of the operating-lever 11 to rotate the carrier in either direction is preferably brought about by means of a cord or cable 23 which extends longitudinally of the train and which should always be operated from the front of the train or car.

To provide for the turning of the legendcarrier without the use of the pawl and lever, as when it is desired to turn the carrier rapidly to bring a particular portion into view, an opening 24 is formed in one end wall of the casing adjacent to the end of the shaft 5 upon which the carrier is mounted, and a socket is formed in the end of the carrier to receive the head 25 of a socket-wrench which may be inserted through the hole to engage the socket. The hole 24 in the end of the casing is of course smaller in diameter than the shaft upon which the le end-carrier is mounted, so as to prevent t e end of the shaft from protruding through the hole and dislodging the other end of the shaft from its bearings.

In the practical use of the station-indicator, the legend-carrier being in position within the casing and the legend containing the name of the station from which the train starts having been brought into view, the operation of the indicator will be effected by pulling upon the cord or cable 23 after leaving each station. Each pull upon the cord from the front end will impart sufficient movement to the actuating-lever to impart to the legend-carrier just sufficient movement to bring the next legend into view, the registration of the legend with the displayopening or view-aperture being automatically effected by means of one or the other of the spring-pressed fingers 18. At the end of the run, if the car is to be carried onto another road, the door of the casing will be opened and the legend-carrier may be removed, with its legends, and a legend-carrier bearing the names of the stations on the road over which the car is to pass may be introduced in its stead. As the mechanisms for rotating the carrier and positioning it after each partial rotation are both attached to some portion of the casing, the exchange of legend-carriers will have no effect upon the operation of these devices. If when the end of the run is reached the car is .to be carried back over the same line, the spring-finger 18, previously used, will be secured in inoperative position and the other spring-finger re leased for engagement with the rack with which it cooperates. The actuating mechanism must also be adjusted for the reverse movement of the legend-carrier, this adjustment consisting in throwing the pawl 10 from the position shown in solid lines in Fig. 3 to the position shown in dotted lines in the same figure. Then the indicator will be ready for use in indicating the stations in the order op posite to that in which they were indicated upon the trip just completed, and the pull exerted on the cord or cable 23 to impart movement to the lever 11 must be applied at the end opposite that to which the force was previously applied.

While I have described and illustrated only one form of my invention, it will be obvious that many changes in the details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as in the mode of mounting the legend-bearing strips upon the carrier in the casing of the indicator and in the springs by which the operating-lever is returned after each movement to its normal position, and I reserve the right to make such changes in the construction as fall within the scope of the appended claims,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a rotatable legend-carrier bearing a circular rack, said rack being provided with teeth of dovetail form, a lever, a pawl carried by said lever and provided with a notched end for engagement with the teeth of said rack, a second rack mounted on said carrier, a pair of oppositely-disposed springfingers normally engaging said rack, and means for securing either of said fingers in inoperative position.

2. The combination in a device of the char- I acter specified, of a rotatable legend-carrier,

a pivoted operating-lever, 'a pawl-and-rack mechanism whereby motion is transmitted from said lever to said legend-carrier, and means for holding the lever normally in such position that when swung in either direction and released, forward rotary movement of the legend-carrier will be produced.

3. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a rotatable legend-carrier, a circular rack borne by said legend-carrier, a pivoted lever, a reversible pawl carried by said lever, said pawl and said rack being adapted for engagement to impart rotary movement to the legend-carrier in either direction, and means for holding the lever normally in such position that if swung either forward or rearward it will impart movemento the legend-carrier in a given direction, act cording to the adjustment of the reversible awl.

p 4. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a casing, a legend-carrier rotatably mounted in the casing and provided with a circular rack, an operating-lever, a reversible pawl carried by said operating-lever, said rack and said lever being adapted for engagement in either position of said pawl to impart rotary movement to the legend-carrier, and a pair of springs engaging said casing and said lever and holding the lever normally in such position that a movement of the lever in either direction from its normal position will impart a movement to the legend-carrier in a given direction, according to the position of the reversible pawl.

5. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a rotatable legend-carrier,

mechanism for imparting step-by-step rotation to said carrier in either direction, a circular rack presenting substantially V-shaped notches mounted on said carrier, a pair of oppositely-disposed spring-pressed fingers normally engaging said rack, and means for securing either of said fingers in inoperative position.

6. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a casing having a door, a rotatable legend-carrier removably mounted within said casing, mechanism for imparting step-by-step rotation to said carrier, a rack mounted on said carrier, anda reversible spring-pawl carried by said door and adapted for engagement with said rack when the door is closed, whereby the amount of each movement of the carrier is accurately determined and backward rotation thereof prevented.

7. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a rotatable legend-carrier, means for imparting step-by-step rotation to said carrier in either direction, a rack mounted on said carrier, a pair of pivoted fingers normally engaging said rack, a spring engaging both of said fingers and holding them nor: mally in engagement with said 'rack, and means for securing either of said fingers in inoperative position and thereby increasing the pressure of the spring upon the other finger.

8. The combination in a device of the character specified, of a casing having a door at the front and having its end walls provided on their inner faces with oppositely-arranged grooves, each groove comprising a main horizontal portion and a downwardly-disposed terminal portion, arotatable legend-carrier having its shaft resting in the terminal portions of said grooves, mechanism for imparting step-by-step rotation to said carrier, said In testimony whereof I have signed my nlilechanism comprising adraokhslecufied upon name in the presence of two Witnesses.

t e carrier, a ever ivote Wit 'n t e oasin above the shaft of the carrier, and a reversibli JOHN MGEAOHERN' pawl carried by said lever and adapted for Witnesses:

engagement with said rack to impart rotation O. M. HAMILTON,

to the carrier in either direction. J. T. WILLINGHAM. 

